Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Comparison of sufentanil with sufentanil plus magnesium sulphate for sedation in the intensive care unit using bispectral index.
In intensive care unit patients we assessed, using bispectral index (BIS) monitoring, whether the addition of magnesium sulphate infusion could decrease the sufentanil infusion required to maintain sedation. ⋯ This is the first clinical study to demonstrate that magnesium sulphate infusion decreases sufentanil requirements. Because of the limited number of patients included and the short period of observation, our findings must be confirmed by larger clinical trials of magnesium infusion titrated to achieve prespecified levels of sedation. Furthermore, randomized clinical studies are needed to determine the effects of magnesium infusion on opioids.